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The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has insisted it will continue the clinical trial of hydroxychloroquine for treatment of coronavirus patients despite the World Health Organisation WHO’s decision to suspend the trial.
Mojisola Adeyeye, NAFDAC director-general, made the disclosure on Tuesday during a television programme on TVC.
Adeyeye explained that there is data to prove that the chloroquine drug is effective in treating COVID-19 patients, particularly at the ‘mild stage’ of the virus, hence Nigeria would continue its clinical trials which may take three to four months.
“There is data to prove that hydroxychloroquine worked for many COVID-19 patients. Therefore, we would continue our own clinical trials in Nigeria. Hydroxychloroquine has been proved to work at a mild stage. So the potency depends on the severity of the disease in the patient’s body,” she said.
“If medical doctors, research scientists, pharmacists, herbal experts work together, we should conclude the clinical trial in three to four months. The narrative might change afterwards but for now, we believe in hydroxychloroquine.”
Recall that United Nations health agency announced Monday, the temporary suspension of testing of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for coronavirus patients.
According to Tedros Ghebreyesus, the executive group implemented a temporary pause of the hydroxychloroquine arm within the Solidarity trial while the safety data is reviewed by the data safety monitoring board.
The decision to suspend trials of hydroxychloroquine, according to Mike Ryan, head of the WHO emergencies programme, had been taken out of “an abundance of caution”.
The health agency of the United Nations however stated that other arms of the WHO’s “Solidarity Trial” – a large international initiative to hold clinical tests of potential treatments for the virus – would continue.
